Are Australians looking for new best friends?

Now I know Australian governments and politicians are unlikely to drift from supporting old established international relationships, including defence and trade partnerships, but one has to wonder if the rest of us are not begining to quietly review our options.

Is China on the way to becoming our new best friend?

Here is a snippet from the Essential Report of 15 November 2010. The survey was conducted online from 9^th to 14^th November 2010 and is based on 1,037 respondents.

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· More than half the respondents think it is very important to have close relationships with the United States (56%) and New Zealand (54%) and just under half think it is very important to have a close relationship with China (45%) and United Kingdom (44%).

· A close relationship with the United States is considered very important by 65% of Liberal/National voters and 62% of Labor voters but only 37% of Greens voters. Greens voters consider relations with New Zealand (58%) and China (47%) more important.

· Since this question was asked in April, the overall rating of the importance of relations with other countries has dropped – especially for Japan (-10%) and Indonesia (-9%).

· 30% think that Australia’s relationship with China should get closer and 29% think our relationship with New Zealand should get closer.

· Labor voters are most likely to favour closer relationships with China (32%) and New Zealand (29%).

· Liberal/National voters are most likely to favour closer relationships with New Zealand (29%) and China (28%).

· Greens voters are most likely to favour closer relationships with China (38%), Indonesia (36%) and New Zealand (36%).

· Since this question was asked in April, the percentage wanting a closer relationship with Indonesia has dropped from 30% to 23%.